Sputnik
Wellington Brewery

 

750 mL swing-top bottle; "Vintage 2014" picked up at the brewery this past March and cellared ever since. Served at cellar temperature.

Pours an inky black hue, topped off with roughly one inch of bubbly, beige-coloured froth. It proceeds to dissipate continuously over the next five minutes, leaving behind a curtain of sticky, honeycomb toffee-patterned lacing. Its remnants amount to a wide collar and a thin, bubbly foam film clinging to the surface. Looks fine, but the nose is more interesting - I'm getting a lot of molasses and butterscotch sweetness, along with notes of dark chocolate, bourbon, oak and vanilla. Mild hints of dark fruit (fig, black cherry) are easily missed, as are the slightest suggestions of licorice and coffee.

Delicious stuff; quite rich-flavoured, but very well-balanced. Roasted malts provide the driving force here, with big flavours of molasses and toffee accompanied by notes of cocoa, milk chocolate, and figgy dark fruit. The bourbon and oak flavours are significant in magnitude, but not overpowering. Vanilla and roasted coffee bean bitterness begin to surface by the finish, with a bit of an ashy, woody astringency rounding it off nicely. Bittersweet finish - more sweet initially, but soon fading into a lingering roasty bitterness augmented by a touch of ethanol heat. Medium-bodied, with subtle carbonation whose effects are barely even noticeable on the tongue. Feels silky-smooth in the mouth, but also a bit on the flat side. No matter; it's still a pleasure to drink.

Final Grade: 4.06, an A-. I've been looking forward to cracking open this bottle of Wellington's Sputnik BBA IRS for about 8 months now, and while I don't think I'd say that it was totally worth the wait, it's still a pretty damn good beer. The flat mouthfeel is a bit of a bummer, but I suppose that's also a calculated risk that goes with barrel ageing a beer and then cellaring it for 10 months. The body could also stand to be a bit more viscous, but overall I'd have to say that this is a solid BBA stout - better than the base beer for sure, and something I'd be interested in purchasing again.

 

 

Another cool bottle from hopsolutely. Cheers for all the loot guys!

From a 75cl bottle into a snifter
Vintage: 2014

APPEARANCE: A black pour yields a two finger, medium looking, creamy tan head with good retention. Black body with lower levels of carbonation. Head slowly fades to a full creamy cap and leaves some lacing down the glass. A ring remains with touches of lacing down the glass. Good looking and plenty black.

SMELL: Oak, leather and tobacco on the nose, with hints of vanilla as well. Light bourbon is there, but it’s restrained and doesn’t dominate. Very well balanced and just enough barrel to make it interesting.

TASTE: Oak, leather and tobacco up front. Rather flavorful at initially, which is not something every beer in the style can say. Light bourbon at the swallow with a medium but lingering finish of tobacco, leather, lightly roasted flavors and some barrel notes. Touches of milk chocolate and caramel from the aging process. The barrel flavors are well measured and the base beer is different than the standard flare. Good stuff.

PALATE: Medium body and medium carbonation. A bit prickly on the palate, but creamy enough for the style, goes down fine and finishes slightly sticky. Creamy enough and enough weight as well.

OVERALL: This was solid. The barrel aging was more restrained than a lot of others in the style, but this made it more complex and enjoyable, especially since the base beer had its own unique thing going on. It would have been a shame had a strong barrel presence drowned out the qualities of the base. This is definitely different, but it works. Check it out if you get the chance. Thanks again hopsolutely. Recommended.